


Inhale. Exhale.

by carsatan



Category: Silent Hill (Video Game Series)
Genre: Chasing, Choking, James fights back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 04:17:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8356837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carsatan/pseuds/carsatan
Summary: James Sunderland finds himself cornered by the Red Pyramid Thing and fights for his life.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Yoooo! This is dedicated to my good friend Brett!
> 
> If there's anything y'all wanna see PH do to James, especially ways to kill him, comment it below! I am always looking for more wriitng prompts! Feedback/comments/kudos are also greatly appreciated!!!

Black boots slammed against the tiled flooring, sliding across the bloody surface as he rounded a corner, one hand grabbing a blood-soaked gurney, throwing it to the ground behind him, nearly throwing himself off-balance in the process. The black soles of his shoes left red smears across the ground as he regained his balance, leaving foot prints behind him for a few paces as he continued onwards.

_Breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Glance over your shoulder. Inhale. Exhale. Look forward. Inhale. Exhale. Reload your gun. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Round a corner. Don’t fall!_

He grunted as he slipped, one hand trying to grab the railing as he went down, hip and shoulder slamming into the ground. A groan of pain was forcibly pulled from his throat. He knew bruises would develop soon, deep purples and blues would blossom across his skin. His shoulder, likely not as much, but, his hip, absolutely.

The footsteps behind him did not halt. It was still pursuing him. The gurney had slowed him down a bit though. Not near as much as he would have liked. Then again, he knew the beast was strong, his only proof was how easily the monster seemed to throw around that blade he possessed. The loud sounds it emitted, the way it cut through doors like it was a hot blade through butter, it was sharp, and definitely outweighed James himself.

Right hand reached up, grasping the handrail, the blood on his hands from the floor made gripping it a slight challenge.

_Grip it harder. Inhale. Exhale. Pull yourself up. Inhale. Exhale._

He wiped his hands on his jeans, glancing over his shoulder. He could hear the beast, but, he couldn’t see him. He wasn’t sad about that.

All thoughts of Maria were thrown out the window, she would be fine. The door of the small room was firmly closed, he couldn't lock it, but, it was closed and offered her protection. It wasn’t a good idea to leave her all alone for too long, especially not with all these monsters running around. Although, he did not think the nurses would be intelligentenough to open a door. She would be fine for a while. None of the beings he had met seemed truly intelligent. They seemed to merely attack with no motives or thoughts anywhere.

Well, except for one. The red pyramid thing. He wasn’t sure if it was intelligence, or primal instinct though. It was hard to decipher. His motions were jerky, yet at the same time, somehow fluid. He had seen him interact with another being earlier, yet, it could just be instinct to assault something else.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear at your shoulder.

The sounds became loud, glancing over his shoulder, catching a slight glimpse of the executioner. A shiver tore its way through his body, rocking him to his bones. Goosebumps spread across his arms. James was not a weak man, at least, he didn’t think he was. Not a lot of things scared him. He had jumped into holes with no end to them and had straight up shot at the red pyramid thing while stuck in a closet with nowhere else to go. But, just a sight of the beast, even from a good distance away, shook him to his very core.

_Keep moving. Inhale. Exhale._

He pushed forward, glancing down at his map for a moment. Yes, this was working. He was close to the stairwell, which, he knew was unlocked. He could get upstairs, grab Maria, and find a fire escape to sneak out of. He stashed the map back into his coat pocket, not bothering to even fold it, just stuffing it in there in haste.

James felt like death itself would come out of any of these doors, but, he found it highly unlikely, considering it was death chasing him through these halls. His feet ached in his boots, desperate for him to actually sit down and rest. One of his knees was aching from where he had tripped earlier. His hip was now throbbing when he would move his right leg past a certain angle. His lungs were burning, aching, his throat hurt, he needed something to drink, but, he didn’t trust the pipes here. Then again, dying of illness wouldn’t probably be near as painful as dying at the hands of the beast chasing him.

He rounded another corner, hand latching firmly onto the railing as he dashed down the corridor, heading for the stairwell.

_Only a few more turns to go. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Check your ammo._

James knew he didn’t have much ammunition, but, he hoped it would be enough to deter the monster from approaching him, if it came down to that. It didn’t take many shots to make him leave back in that apartment room when he was hiding.

Another corner was rounded. A straight shot down the hallway was the only thing that separated him from the stairwell now.

Black rubber soles pounded against the tiling. The beast behind him was slow, he would be even slower on stairs. In fact, the stairs could deter him from pursuing him further. One can only hope.

He grasped the door knob, but a gleam of light beneath him caused his gaze to shift.

The beast's great sword was firmly lodged into the door and the wall, preventing him from behind able to swing the door open towards him. He could see light seeping from the slice where too much force had been thrown behind the slice, the blade passing through the door a bit and into the stairwell on the other side of the door.

The man let out a grunt, both hands grasping firmly onto the handle of the blade, bloodied shoes slipping on the ground as he tried to anchor himself down, trying his best to pull the blade free. It creaked and groaned, only slightly, but, it refused to even budge.

He froze, backing up a few inches.

He had been cornered.

Intentionally.

The beast knew he was down here, and blocked his exit, and purposefully pushed him towards it to kill him.

He was smarter than it had previously put off. If he was clever enough to plan out something like this, what else was the monster truly capable of?

The steps were getting louder as he whipped around, the beast was down the hall, closing in.

Hands found the handgun that rested in his pocket, quickly whipping it out faster than he had thought was humanly possible. The ends of his jacket sleeves were filthy, he didn’t want to think about it now. Even if this was his favorite jacket.

A jolt of fear ran through his body as he shifted towards the corner opposite of the stairwell door, hoping that the beast would instead exit through it when he would tire of being shot at.

Several loud bangs echoed throughout the hallway, causing James himself to jump just a bit from the loud sound the weapon emitted. It was clear that this weapon was not meant for long range, as, none of his bullets even hit their mark.

He regretted using the gun to deal with the nurses around the hospital now, he could have saved his ammunition. But, there was absolutely nothing he could do about it at the moment.

The executioner was finally close enough, five bullets were shot out in quick succession, each one ricocheted off of the metal head, not even slowing down the pursuer. Two more, one grazing against the beasts arm, the other missing entirely.

Shaky hands reloaded. 10 bullets left. Inhale. Exhale. A deep grumble from the beast caused him to jump, dropping several bullets to the ground. Eyes glanced down. Which ones had already been fired, and which ones hadn’t been used? Scratch that. 6 bullets left.

The bullets were hastily loaded into the gun.

He was being cornered, Even if he was strong enough to pull the blade out, the door was so twisted from the damage, he likely wouldn’t even be able to get it open.

And both of them seemed fully aware of that.

3 more bullets were shot, two flying off of the metal head once again, causing the executioner to hesitate for a split second, causing James to wonder if it actually hurt the monster, or, if the vibrations of the bullets on metal were just slightly annoying. The third sunk itself deep into the beast’s chest, deep red oozing from it slowly.

If it had been a human, it would have been a fatal blow, enough to collapse a lung at least, but, it obviously didn’t affect this thing very much.

Boots scuffled against the tile as his back was pressed against the back wall. His hands were shaking so badly he nearly dropped the gun.

3 shots left.

_Make them count. Inhale. Exhale._

Two in quick succession, both ricocheted off of the executioner’s head once more, causing the beast the let out a deep growl in annoyance.

James thought he wouldn’t be so intimidating without his weapon, but, the fear of the unknown, the fear of what was to come, it still rattled through his body and his mind.

The red pyramid thing seemed to completely ignore the fact that his weapon was right there, he didn’t even glance over at it, let alone attempt to retrieve it.

One shot left.

There wasn’t many ways he could truly make it count. He could aim for the still bleeding wound on the other’s chest, and hope that a double shot would cause enough pain to make him leave him alone. He could hope that a shot to a gloved hand would deter him. A shot to the leg could possible make him turn tail and leave.

Or a shot to James’ own head could put an end to it all. The thought had crossed his mind only once before, when hewas trapped in that apartment room with the red pyramid thing earlier. Beat him at his own game.

The gun was raised once again, hoping a double shot to the chest would be enough.

The monster stopped, tilting his massive head slightly to one side, as if curious to see if James would shoot again.

Both hesitated for a second, just standing there inside that hallway of Brookhaven Hospital.

James let go first.

Finger pressed on the trigger hard, the sound of a soft ‘click’ filled the air, the only sound that could be heard over his own soft breathing. Another pull, another soft click.

He had miscounted. There wasn’t enough time to sift through the bullets that littered the ground at his feet. He was completely out of ammunition. Technically, he had one shot left, he could throw it, and risk losing it for good.

The beast took a step forward as James chucked the weapon as hard as he could, muscles in his shoulder immediately shooting pain throughout his shoulder and bicep. Wrong move.

The gun bounced off of the metal head, causing it to vibrate for a good few seconds. One gloved hand came up to clasp the end, ending the vibrations.

James couldn’t tell if it was a right move, or a wrong move. Another deep growl as the beast shook its head, seemingly shaking off the damage he had tried to do. Definitely a wrong move.

The gun skittered across the ground against the wall, completely useless now. He should have held onto it to strike with. But, it was out of the question, he had no choice now.

Cornered and useless, he had no weapons, no one was going to rush to his aid to save him.

Green eyes gazed down the hallway, there was a bit of space left.

_Inhale. Exhale._

He made a run for it, aiming to get out and around the monster.

He deeply miscalculated his range though.

One arm lashed out, grabbing him by the upper arm and slamming him back against the wall with more force than necessary, skull cracking against it causing his vision to black out for a few seconds.

His breathing picked up as the beast closed in on him, towering over him. There was no point in even trying to escape, let alone push his way past the beast.

His body jolted as the beast lashed out yet again, gloved hand grasping him by the throat.

James’ legs scrambled for purchase as he kicked them slightly, no longer feeling the firm ground beneath them as he was hoited up.

He wasn’t going down without a fight.

_Struggle. Inhale. Exhale. Grasp onto him. Inhale. Exhale. Don’t stop struggling._

One hand grasped onto the beast’s wrist, trying his best to pull himself up a bit higher to alleviate the pressure that didn’t seem to be tightening around his throat. One leg kicked out, landing a firm push against his shoulder.

The grip faltered, but only for a split second before it tightened, pulling a sharp gasp from the man.

James lashed out once more, foot kicking against the red pyramid thing’s chest, right in the wound.

He wasn’t sure how to describe the sound that the thing emitted, but, it didn’t sound pleasant at all. Fused fingers dug into his throat, slowly cutting off his blood supply. He could breathe, but, not very well.

One final kick and he finally got where he was aiming.

The bloodied sole of his boot slammed against the edge of the monster’s triangular head, quickly pushing as hard as he could. The blood proved a difficult factor, but, the grip on his throat was easing up, even just slightly.

He grunted as he pushed harder, large flakes of rust were yanked from the surface, causing him to lose his traction. Green eyes watched as his boot slipped slightly, but, held firm to his target.

A second gloved hand grasped firmly onto his ankle. James grunted, nails digging into the flesh of his wrist. It was easier to lift his second leg up, upper back planted firmly against the wall for support and leverage as he kicked out again, pinning the beasts wrist against his own head.

The beast had long arms, but, James’ legs were longer.

Another stalemate, more hesitation.

_Inhale. Exhale. You got him where you want him. Relax, regain energy. Breathe. Inhale. Exhale._

Both had each other pinned, James to the wall, and the beast’s hand against the rough surface of his own head.

A simple turn of the red pyramid things head turned the tables in the beast’s favor.

The slippery soles of his boots slipped off with nothing there to be pinned against anymore.

The back of his heels slammed into the wall behind him, droplets of blood dripping down the wall as flakes of rust clung to the bottom of them.

Another deep grumble could be heard, both hands scratching desperately at the arm that held him up. He was losing energy, he exerted a good amount with that last stunt he pulled. And, it had gained him absolutely nothing but angering the monster in front of him.

He scrambled for leverage desperately as the grip around his throat began to slowly tighten, cutting off oxygen at a slow pace.

He opened his mouth to speak, to cry out, the only thing that came out was a garbled groan followed by a strained wheeze.

His body was throwing itself into overdrive, trying desperately to fix whatever was going on. Everything felt like a hazy, like he was drowning, but, he didn’t feel like he was drowning. His fingertips felt odd, so did his toes, but, that was the least of his worries right now. His body quickly acted, shutting down non-essential organs in favor of sending that blood supply to his brain, trying to grant him a few extra moments to get out of the stressful situation he had gotten himself into.

His body ached, legs not resisting any longer as he just hung there, still scratching at the beast’s arm, and not making any headway in this situation at all.

The grip tightened yet again. He let out a wheeze, trying desperately to breathe, to allow any oxygen in at all. He never thought he would be so driven to breathe the stale air of this hospital.

_Inhale….. inhale….. Inhale some more….. don’t exhale._

His vision blurred around the edges, no longer able to see the light coming from the stairwell, too focused on the sightbefore him. His eyebrows furrowed together as he let out a choked whimper.

“M-m-m… ary…” he whined softly, barely above a hush whisper.

His vision darkened around the edges quickly, his head felt like it was going to pop off. His feet were asleep from lack of oxygen to them, his hip ached and throbbed as his pulse increased drastically, body struggling to keep oxygen flowing throughout his entire body, trying desperately to save itself.

_I’m so sorry Mary._

Eyes slowly slipped closed, hands falling from their grip, falling to his sides as his body went slack, head rolling forward as he lost consciousness.

_Exhale._

 

 


End file.
